Measuring apparatus.



J. STEVENS.

MEASURING APPARATUS. APPLICATION rum) APR. 21-, 1910.

995,812. I Patented June 20,1911.

2 SHEETS-SHEET l.

WITNESSES Attorney ms uonms PETERS 0a,, wAsHINcTcN, u. r

.1. STEVENS. MEASURING APPARATUS. APPLICATION IILBD APR. 21, 1910.

Patented June 20, 1911.

1n: NORRIS PETERS cm, wnsumam nn'rrn era JOSEPH STEVENS, 0F WOODLAND,MISSISSIPPI.

MEASURING APPARATUS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented June 20, 1911.

Application filed April 21, 1910. Serial No. 556,743.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JOSEPH STEVENS, a citizen of the United States ofAmerica, and resident of lVoodl-and, in the county of Chickasaw andState of Mississippi, have invented certain new and useful Improvementsin Measuring Apparatus, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to devices for weighing or measuring material andit has reference particularly to an apparatus designed for the purposeof dispensing a predetermined amountof material at each cycle ofoperation, thereby enabling a dealer to remove a certain amount ofmaterial from the bin and deliver it to a receptacle provided to receiveit.

An object of this invention is to produce a dispensing device of thecharacter noted having novel means for adjusting a part thereof forincreasing or diminishing the capacity of the portion thereof designedto measure the material and the invention further contemplates theprovision of novel means for indicating the amount of material deliveredby the apparatus.

lNith the foregoing and other objects in view, the invention consists inthe details of construction and in the arrangement and combination ofparts to be hereinafter more fully set forth and claimed.

In describing the invention in detail, reference will be had to theaccompanying drawings forming part of this specification where in likecharacters denote corresponding parts in the several views, in whichFigure 1 illustrates a view in front elevation of the apparatusembodying the invention; Fig. 2 illustrates a side view thereof; Fig. 3illustrates a top plan view of a fragment of the apparatus; Fig. 4illustrates a detail sectional view of the measuring device; Fig. 5illustrates a transverse sectional view taken through the cylindricalmember and the sliding member applied thereto; the section being takenon the line 5-5 of Fig. 7; Fig. 6 illustrates a top plan view of that"portion of the device used for measuring the material. Fig. 7illustrates a perspective view of the device shown in Fig. 6 with theregulating attachment applied thereto; Fig. 8 illustrates a perspectiveview of the regulating attachment;

and Fig. 9 illustrates a perspective view of the price indicatingmechanism.

In these drawings 10 denotes a suitable frame having a hopper or bin 11thereon, the said hopper or bin having an open bottom12 which is incommunication with a pocket 12 formed at the bottom of the hopper. Thepocket 12 has an opening in its top in communication with the hopper andanother opening in its bottom which is employed for discharging thematerial after it has been measured. A member 13 of gen eral cylindricalcontour is mounted to partially rotate in the pocket and it has one end14 closed. The member 13 is further provided with a longitudinallydisposed opening 15 which is adapted to alternately coincide or registerwith the opening in the upper wall of the pocket and with the opening inthe lower wall of said pocket, thus enabling an operator to bring theopening 15 into such relation to the hopper as to receive materialtherefrom and then to move it into such relation to the opening in thebottom of the hopper as to discharge the material therefrom, it beingunderstood that the cylindrical member 13 will close the opening in thebottom of the hopper when the cylindrical member is turned to a positionto discharge material from the cylindrical member.

As a means for increasing or diminish ing the capacity of thecylindrical member, I provide the said member with two longitudinallydisposed ribs 16, attached to the internal wall of the cylindricalmember in any approved manner and I then mount on the said ribs thedisks 17 and 18 having notches 19 and 20 respectively to receive theribs 16. The disks are preferably equal in diameter to the internaldiameter of the cylindrical member and are slidable in the cylindricalmember as shown in Fig. 7. I provide a guard plate 21 which is of awidth slightly greater than the width of the opening 15 in thecylindrical member in order that the said guard plate may close theopening 15, as the disks are pushed into the cylindrical member. As thedisk 17 is caused to travel toward the end 14 of the cylindrical member,the space between the disk 17 and the said end 14 is diminished andtherefore the capacity of the cylindrical member is regulated, thecapacity being increased of course as the disk 17 is moved outwardlywith relation to the end 14. The

disks l7 and 18 have central apertures to receive the crank handle 21 towhich the said disks are secured in order that they may take rotarymotion from the crank handle as it is turned. Owing to the oints between5 the disks and the ribs 16, motion communicated to the disks will alsobe communicated to the cylindrical member, thereby causing the partialrotation of the said cylindrical member to accomplish the resultsheretofore indicated, viz. to cause the opening to register with thehopper or to register with the discharge opening of the pocket.

As a means for regulating the positions of the disks with relation tothe cylindrical 15 member, I provide the crank handle 21 with a toothedrack 22 which toothed rack has lugs 23 apertured to receive the crankhandle and I provide collars 24 and 25 on the said crank handle on eachside of one of the lugs 23 in order that movement of the toothed rackmay be communicated to the crank handle for the purpose of reciprocatingthe disks 17 and 18 on the ribs 16.

As a means for moving the toothed rack,

I employ a pinion 26 which is mounted on a shaft 27. One end of theshaft 27 is journaled in a bearing in a corner post of the frame and thesaid shaft is also journaled in a bracket 28 extending outwardly from 30the face of the housing of the apparatus. The shaft 27 is provided witha toothed wheel 29 engaged by the dog 30, the said dog in turn beingpivoted to an operating handle 31, one end of which is freely mounted onthe said shaft. As the handle 31 is oscillated on the shaft, the dog 30is in engagement with the toothed wheel while the shaft 27 is rotatedand thus the pinion 26 is turned in the desired direction to move thetoothed rack to effect an adjustment of the disk 17 with relation to theend 14 of the cylindrical member with the result heretofore stated. Thedog 30 is shown as having its nose held into engagement with the toothedwheel by 4 means of the spring- 32 but I do not wish to be limited tothe detail of construction for carrying this part of the invention intopractice.

As a means for setting the machine in 0 order that a known quantity ofmaterial may be delivered therefrom when it is set in a predeterminedposition I provide a quadrant .33 which may be supported in any suitablemanner and one surface 34 of the quadrant may he graduated to indicatepounds or fractions of pounds.

In order to limit the movement of the handle 31, a collar 35 is securedto the quadrant by means of the binding screw 36 which binding screwprojects into the path of travel of the operating handle and limits themovement thereof. Thus, if the scale on the quadrant is graduated topounds and fractions thereof and the collar is set to the markindicating one pound, the handle 31 would be moved until it was arrestedby the screw. \Vhile the handle was being moved, the shaft 27 would bepartially rotated and thus the pinion 26 would engage the toothed rackand carry the disk 17 to its proper position with relation to the end 14of the cylindrical member to create in the cylindrical member betweenthe disk 17 and the end 14 a space capable of containing one pound ofmaterial being measured. hen the space is filled 7.5 and the cylindricalmember partially rotated the contents can be discharged therefrom in themanner heretofore described and this operation may be repeated veryrapidly by proper manipulation.

I claim:

1. In a measuring apparatus, a hopper having an opening in its bottomand a pocket with which the opening communicates, the said pocket havingan opening in its bottom, a cylindrical member partially rotatable inthe pocket and having an opening designed to alternately coincide withthe opening in the bottom of the hopper and the opening in the bottom ofthe pocket, longi- 9o. tudinally disposed ribs in the cylindricalmember, disks having recesses to receive the ribs, a guard plateextending between the disks in alinement with the opening in thecylindrical member, a crank handle on which the disks are mounted, arack suspended from the crank handle and adapted to communicate motionto the said crank handle, means for moving the rack, and means forindicating the quantity of material delivered by the measuringapparatus.

2. In a measuring apparatus, a hopper having an opening in its bottomand a pocket with which the opening communicates, the said pocket havingan opening in its bottom, a cylindrical member partially rotatable inthe pocket and having an opening designed to alternately coincide withthe opening in the bottom of the hopper and the opening in the bottom ofthe pocket, longi- 11 tudinally disposed ribs in the cylindrical member,disks having recesses to receive the ribs, a guard plate extendingbetween the disks in alinement with the opening in the cylindricalmember, a crank handle on which the disks are mounted, a wheel rotatablein the longitudinal direction of the crank handle, and means connectingthe wheel with the crank handle for moving the latter longitudinally.

3. In a measuring apparatus, a hopper having an opening in its bottomand a pocket with which the opening communicates, the said pocket havingan opening in its bottom, a cylindrical member partially rotatable inthe pocket and having an opening designed to alternately coincide withthe opening in the bottom of the hopper and the opening in the bottom ofthe pocket, longitudinally disposed ribs in the cylindrical member,disks having recesses to receive the ribs, a guard plate extendingbetween the disks in alinement With the opening in the cylindricalmember, a crank handle on Which the disks are mounted, a toothed rackconnected to the crank handle, a pinion in engagement with the rack,means for rotating the pinion, a shaft on Which the pinion is mounted, atoothed Wheel on the shaft, a dog JOSEPH STEVENS.

lVitnesses:

JAMES BOWE, WILLIAM M. BLAND.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressingthe Commissioner Washington, D. G.

of Patents,

